Loose-leaf binder.



C. M. COTT. LOOSE LEAF BINDER. APPLICATION FILED AUG.5, 1915.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 112, 19 19..-

Application filed August 5,1916. Serial No. 113,286.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, CHARLES M. Corr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Golumbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and use and one in which the individual retaining posts maybe independently released. It 1s also desirable to provide a structure constructed in such manner that the individual traversing elements of the post will be securely held against accidental displacement and loss and in which the traversing element maybe permanently locked against removal after the book has been filled and it is no longer desired to make changes therein.

The present construction accomplishes all of the foregoing objects in a simple, economical and efficient way.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which now follows.

In the accompanying drawing;

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through the rear portion of a loose-leaf binder showing the parts in assembled relation.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of. the

'metals hereinafter described.

Fig. 3 is an edge view of the structure shown in Fig.2.

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one of ghe retaining wires hereinafter described, an

Fig. 5 is a partial under-side perspective view of one of said metals.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of the drawing.

Referring to the drawing 5 and 6 desig nate the covers and 7 designates the uniting back of a looseleaf binder such as is volume and bind said leaves together.

commonly employed for public records. It is usual in such structures to provide posts 8 which extend through. the leaves 9 of the In carrying out the invention, I provide the duplicate metals 10 and 11 which are fixedly attached to the backs 5 and 6. These metals are bent along their projecting edges to form elongated, box-like housings 12 and 13. The front edges of these housings are cut out or notched as at 14 to receive the ends of the posts 8. For each endof each of the posts, there is provided one of the retaining members illustrated in Fig. 4, these .retaining members comprising a wire bent to U shape to thereby provide a post engaging arm 15 and a locking arm 16. The bight portions of the retaining members constitute finger'grasps 17. The finger grasps of the two outer retaining members are knurled or roughened while the finger grasps of the inner retaining elements are bent slightly out of the plane of the body portionsthereof to facilitate the ready grasping of the same. The inner ends of the arms 16 are provided with transversely extending lugs 18 which, when these retaining elements are in place, project through recesses 19 formed in the rear walls 20 of their respective housing. These rear Walls 20 are also provided-- with notches 21 for the reception of the locking projections 18.

- When the parts are in the position illus-" trated in Fig. 1, the free ends of the arms 15 project through the usual perforations 22 formed in the ends of the posts 8. The movement of the individual retaining members to this'locking position, is limted by the projections 18 engaging the ends of the recesses 19. The outward movement of the individual retaining element is likewise limited by the length of the slot 19, it being apparent that the transverse projection 18 will prevent the complete withdrawal of the retaining element and will thereby prevent its accidental dislodgment or loss as well as maintain them always in convenient position whereby a very slight inward movement will bring them to locking and post retaining position.

After the book has been completed, it is ing elements may move.

desired to permanently lock it against the removal of any of the sheets therefrom or the addition'of any sheets thereto. By inserting a pointed instrument through the opening 23, the locking arm 16 may be sprung sufliciently to withdraw the transverse projection 18 from the notch 19 and the individual retaining elements may be pushed further into the housing, until the finger grasps 17 lie entirely within the housing and until the transverse projections 18 snap into the openings or notches 21 formed in the rear walls 20 of the respective housings. In order to do this I bend the finger grasps of the'inner retaining elements into the plane of the remainder of said elements. This movement of the finger grasps into the housings and'the engagement of projections 18 in notches 21 results in permanently looking the parts so that no leaves may be added to or removed from the volume, thereafter.

It has been found that the leaves at the rear outer corners of'the body of leaves 9 frequently become mutilated, said leaves tending to curl outwardly, and to render it difiicult to properly position the parts when new leaves are to be added or leaves are to be removed from the volume. To maintain the leaves in proper shape at this point, I provide thin metallic plates 24, said plates being preferably provided with down turned flanges 25 which engagebehind the rear edges of the leaves, said plates likewise being provided with slightly down turned flanges 26 at their front edges, but this latter is not necessary.

It will be noted that the housings 20 are cut away centrally of the metals to provide a recess 27. This provides a space in which the finger grasps 17 of the two inner retain- Important advantages are derived from providing an individual retaining element foreach of the posts and it is to be noted that in the present construction, the two inner retaining elements move outwardly to locking position while the two outer retaining elements move inwardly to locking position. By providing these individual retainin elements, I am enabled to release some 0 theposts without releasing others. Much dificulty has been experienced heretofore in inserting new leaves in binders of this character due to the fact that it has been customary to simultaneously release all of the posts and to remove from said posts the leaves that are above the point where the new leaves are tobe inserted, leaving all of the posts projecting through the remaining leaves. The leaves removed become disarranged and the openings therein get out of alinement making it difficult to replace the leaves and necessitating the exercise of great care in doing so.

naeaeer By virtue of the present construction, 1' am enabled to avoid this difliculty as follows: I release all of the posts at one side of the volume, then I pass through two of the posts, say the two outer posts, small retaining rods corresponding to the arm 15. Then I release the outer posts only, at the opposite side of the volume and remove the leaves that it is desired to remove along with the .outer posts. These outer posts projecting through the removed leaves maintain them in proper alinement and render their replacement very easy. The inner posts, in the meantime, remain in their normal position and maintain in alinement the leaves that are not removed from the volume.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth. While the particular form of retaining element shown in Fig. 4: may be very economically manufactured and while it will serve the purposes set forth with efliciency, it is apparent that the particular form of retaining element may be varied without departing from the idea herein involved of providing individual retaining elements for the separate posts or from the further idea of having some of these individual retaining elements operable from a point at the middle of the volume and others of said elements operable from the ends of the metal. Furthermore, the locking mechanism and likewise the releasing means may be varied without departure from the invention, it being understood that the invention covers such modifications as fairly come within the spirit as well as the terms of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A loose leaf binder comprising a plurality of leaf retaining posts, a metal carried by the cover and an individual retaining element for each of the posts movably supported upon said metal, one of said retaining elements being arranged to engage its respective post upon inward movement of said element and another of said elements'- being arranged to engage its post upon outward movement thereof.

2. A loose leaf binder comprising a plurality of leaf retaining posts, a metal carried by the cover and an individual retaining element for each of the posts movably supported upon said metal, some of said retaining elements having finger grasps disposed at the outer ends of the metal and others of said retaining elements having finger grasps disposed toward the central portion of the metal.

3. A loose leaf binder comprising a Pinrality of leaf retainin posts, a pair of covers adapted to be united by said posts, a metal carried by each of the covers and a plurality of individual retaining elements for the posts, said retaining elements being slidably mounted upon the metals, and'interengaging means between the retaining elements and metals for limiting the movement of the retaining elements to a position wherein they are released from the posts, said metals being also provided with means for engaging said retaining elements and operable when said retaining elements have been moved to an inaccessible position upon the metals and serving to lock said retaining elements permanently in a post engaging position.

LA loose leaf binder comprising a pair of covers, a plurality of leaf retaining posts uniting said covers, a metallic housing carried by each of the covers and a plurality of post retaining elements slidably disposed in said housing, each of said post retaining elements comprising a post traversing arm and a locking member, .and the housing beingformed to be engaged by said locking member.

5. A loose leaf binder comprising a pair of covers, a plurality of leaf retaining posts uniting said covers, a metallic housing carried by each of the covers and a plurality of post retaining elements slidably disposed in said housing, each of said post retaining elements comprising a post traversing arm and a locking member, and the housing being formed to be engaged by said locking memher, said meansbeing operable when the retaining elements have been moved to an inaccessible position within the housing, to

lock said elements against movement and in a post engaging position.

6. A loose leaf binder comprisinga pair of covers, a plurality of leaf retaining posts uniting said covers, a metallic housing carried by each of the covers and a plurality of post retaining elements slidably disposed in said housing, each of said post retaining elements comprising a post traversing arm and a locking member and the housing being formed to be engaged by said locking memher, some of said retaining elements being movable inwardly from the outer ends of the housing and others of said retaining elements being movable outwardly from an intermediate point of the housing when beingmoved to post engaging position.

7. A loose leaf binder comprising a pair of covers and a plurality of leaf retaining posts for uniting said covers, a metal carried by each of said covers and bent to form a housing extending along theedge of said cover and a plurality of individual retaining elements for the posts slidable in said housing, each of said elements being formed of Wire bent to a shape to constitute a post traversing arm and a yieldable locking arm.

8. A loose leaf binder comprising a pair of covers and a plurality of leaf retaining posts for uniting said covers, a metalcarrie'd by each of said covers and bent to form a housing extending along the edge of said cover and a plurality of individual retaining elements for the posts slidable in said housing, each of said elements being formed of wire bent to a shape to constitute a post traversing arm and a yieldable locking arm, the uniting bight portions between said arms constituting finger grasps which normally project from the housing.

9. A loose leaf binder comprising a pair of covers, a plurality of leaf retaining posts for uniting said covers, a metal bent to form a housing carried by each of said covers, said housing being cut away at intervals for the 'reception of the ends of the posts and said housing being additionally cut away at a point intermediateits ends, and a plurality of post retaining elements slidable in the housing, some of which are manually operable from the last named cut away portion of the housing and some of which are manually operable from the outer ends of the housing. 7

10. In a loose leaf binder the combination with a metallic plate bent to form a housing along its edge and having a cut away portion, of a leaf retaining post adapted to enter said cut away portion and a post retaining element slidable in said housing and formed of a resilient rod or wire bent to form two substantially parallel'arms, one of which is shaped to engage the post and unite it to the housing and the other of which is shaped to form a locking member, and the with a metal bent to form a housing along its edge, said housing having a cut away portion, a leaf retaining post adapted to enter said cut away portion and a resilient post engaging element slidable in said housing and having a portion adapted to traverse said post and a laterally extending member, said housing having a slot formed in its wall within Which said laterally extending member travels, and an additional slot -with which said laterally extending member engages when the retaining element has been moved to an inaccessible position within the housing.

12. In a loose leaf binder the combination with a metal bent to form a housing along its edge, said housing having a cut away portion, a leaf retaining post adapted to enter said-cut away portion and a resilient post engaging element slidable in said housing and having a portion adapted to traverse said post and a laterally extending member, said housing having a slot formed in its wall within which said laterally extending member travels and an additional 5 slot with which said laterally extending member engages when the retaining element has been moved to an inaccessibleposition within the housing, the housin being pro- I vided with an opening throng which the CHARLES M. COTT. 

